In 1990, the President's Council at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC) endorsed changing registration procedures to eventually eliminate late registrants. A study was conducted to determine the number of students who register late, their characteristics and reasons for registering late, and whether late registrants could be expected to change their behavior if the policy permitting late registration were changed. Separate data files were constructed for students who registered during the last week before classes and those who registered on the first day of classes or later. Results were compared to a file of data on all students registered and enrolled at midterm. In addition, a survey was conducted of students standing in line to register or take a basic skills test in 3 days following the first day of classes. Major study findings included the following: (1) of the 50,461 students included in the October 1st enrollment, 19.9% registered in the week prior to the first day of classes, and an additional 12.4% registered after classes began; (2) in general, students who registered late were not pursuing a degree and were more likely to be former students than currently enrolled students; (3) late registrants tended to be part-timers, Black non-Hispanics, older than recent high school graduates, and males; (3) 58% of the late registrants were aware that they were registering after the first day of classes; (4) 26% indicated that they were registering late because they had only decided to attend M-DCC in the last few days, 16% said they had "just put things off until the very end," 17% said they had just arrived in town, and 10% reported financial reasons; and (5) 74.1% of the respondents indicated that they would register before the deadline if faced with a late registration fee, while 79.7% said they would register earlier if faced with a cut-off of registration after the first day of class. The survey instrument is included. (JMC)